"Demand for SilkAir's Busan flights since the launch of the route on 1 May 2019 has been very encouraging, and it has proven to be another popular gateway into South Korea, complementing SIA’s services to Seoul Incheon," Senior Vice President (Marketing Planning) Tan Kai Ping said.

Singapore Airlines will operate the route with A330-300s, providing 76% more capacity than SilkAir, which uses B737-800s. Flights will continue to operate 4x weekly.

As part of the relocation, the carrier will end its services from Narita to Singapore Changi on September 22, 2019. The route is currently operated daily with a B767-300(ER) aircraft and is one of Delta's two Asian routes from its Narita hub. Flights from Honolulu to Manila Ninoy Aquino Int'l, currently operated via Narita, will continue although they will be transferred to Seoul Incheon, where Delta is focusing its Asian traffic.

The two South-East Asian carriers plan to finalise the formal agreement in the coming months. The wide-ranging strategic partnership is subject to multiple regulatory approvals. It will also include the carriers' subsidiaries: Scoot and SilkAir in Singapore and Firefly in Malaysia.

Currently, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have a code-share partnership covering services from Singapore Changi to Kuala Lumpur Int'l (operated by both airlines) and Kuching (operated by Malaysia Airlines only). The airlines said in a statement that they plan to expand the code-share agreement beyond their two home markets.

The Singaporean and Malaysian flag carriers were originally founded as a single airline, Malayan Airways Limited, prior to the Asian countries' independence. The carrier was renamed as Malaysian Airways (1963) after the Federation of Malaysia was founded in 1963. Subsequently, after Singapore's...

The Singaporean low-cost carrier will terminate flights to Lucknow in India on June 29, 2019; to Kalibo in the Philippines on June 30; to Quanzhou in China on August 24; and to Malé in the Maldives on October 25.

Scoot flies to all four cities using its A320-200 aircraft. Lucknow, Kalibo, and Quanzhou are served 3x weekly and Malé 4x weekly.

The LCC unit of Singapore Airlines Group does not operate any B737-8s itself but is nonetheless affected by the grounding of the type. Its full-service sister carrier SilkAir (MI, Singapore Changi) was supposed to transfer its B737-800s to Scoot and replace them with newly delivered MAX 8s. However, the transfer was suspended pending the end of the grounding of MAX 8s and the resumption of new deliveries.